The number of types of electronic devices that are commercially available has increased tremendously the past few years and the rate of introduction of new devices shows no signs of abating. Devices such as tablet, laptop, netbook, desktop, and all-in-one computers, cell, smart, and media phones, storage devices, portable media players, navigation systems, monitors, and others, have become ubiquitous.
Power and data may be provided from one device to another over cables that may include one or more wire conductors, fiber optic cables, or other conductor. Connector inserts may be located at each end of these cables and may be inserted into connector receptacles in the communicating or power transferring devices in order to provide pathways for data and power between them.
In some electronic systems, a user may want to connect a first device having a first type of connector receptacle to a second device having a second type of connector receptacle. In some systems, an incompatibility between the two types of connector receptacles cannot be overcome. That is, the interface circuits used by the two connector receptacles may be incompatible. In other systems, there may be no, or only a limited, incompatibility. In this case, a cable having different connector inserts that correspond to the different connector receptacles may be used to convey data, power, or both. In some systems this cable may be a pass-through cable. In other systems, circuitry may be included in the cable to compensate for an incompatibility between the connector receptacles.
Thus, what is needed are circuits, methods, and apparatus that may compensate for an incompatibility between different interface circuits for different connector receptacles.